{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Laying Hold of Power \/\/ Power Unlimited, Part 7","description":"So, we\u2019ve been chatting on the program recently about laying hold of the unlimited power that God wants to give those who love Him. Great \u2026 but come on, how do you actually lay hold of that power? Well \u2026 the answer may not be what you think. A few years ago now, I had the opportunity to speak with a group of high school students at the opening of their college and senior campus. The subject of my presentation was this: \u2018How to Get More out of Your Parents\u2019. I just remember that when I was at high school, speakers at those functions were so boring. I wanted to grab their attention and it certainly did that. A few of the parents, I have to tell you, were listening pretty closely as well but the heart of the presentation was this. Our parents, at least the greatest majority of them, are hard wired to bless us, but one of the things teenagers do, I know I did, is rebel against them and that stops the flow of parental blessing dead in its tracks. I shared some insights with these young men and women about how, in a very practical way, they can respond to their parents\u2019 love at the same time as growing up, to get that relationship and that blessing flowing again. You could see some lights going on as they came to grips with how to respond to their parents. It turns out, our relationship with God is no different. Over the last little while on the program, we\u2019ve been working our way through a series of messages called \u201cPower Unlimited\u201d. Over the last twenty or so years I\u2019ve spent a lot of time studying God\u2019s Word, the 66 different books in the Bible and so I\u2019ve had the chance to mull it all over. And whilst I know I\u2019ve really just scratched the surface, the more I think about it, the Bible appears to me to be about 4 things. Who God is, God\u2019s will and purpose for us, who you and I are in his heart and fourthly, the thing I want to talk about today is, how we can respond to God. And as it turns out, that\u2019s the key to laying hold of the unlimited power that He has for us. Now some people think that all the Bible has to offer, is a bunch of rules and regulations. But as I\u2019ve read my way through the Bible, what I\u2019ve discovered is that, how we can respond to God isn\u2019t the main thing, it kind of drops out of all the other three; it\u2019s a natural consequence of who God is, His will and purpose, who I am and as we get our hearts around those things, well for me at least, my heart just wanted to explode and respond to Him. We\u2019re going to unpack this last one today because you know something; it\u2019s not a rules and regulations thing. I don\u2019t stay faithful to my wife because I have to, I do, but that\u2019s not why I stay faithful to her. I stay faithful to her because I want to; it\u2019s my response to her love and to our promise to one another. Not a difficult thing to do at all, because she loves me and one of the ways that I respond to that love is through my faithfulness to her. It\u2019s the same deal with God but you know something, it\u2019s not good enough to know that we ought to respond or even that we want to respond, we need to know how to respond. So often in marriages the husband wants to show love to the wife and the wife wants to show love to the husband, but they\u2019re actually two very different people and they don\u2019t know how. A lot of marriages fall apart simply because people don\u2019t know how to love one another. We were talking about teenagers earlier; nobody ever explained to me what was going on when I was growing up. You know, we start with a total dependence on our parents, we\u2019re a baby, we have breast milk, we\u2019re in nappies and progressively we grow to be independent of them. It\u2019s a natural thing to grow up and become an adult and to be independent of your parents. Jesus quoted the Old Testament, he said: Matthew 19:5 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they\u2019ll become one flesh. In those teenage years, we\u2019re kind of almost adults but not really, we\u2019re still dependant on our parents financially. We\u2019re still under their authority and discipline; we still live in their home. Those awkward in\u2013between years are times when a lot of people rebel against their parents in all sorts of ways. You know the teenage roll of the eyes, \u2018I know it all and what would my parents know\u2019. We continually do things parents ask us not to and we yet do them anyway. We leave the empty coke can on the sink or the underwear on the floor in the bathroom, whatever it is that a teenager does that drives their parents nuts, it\u2019s almost like if they know that it drives their parents nuts, they\u2019ll do it more. I did that. We establish a pattern of behaviour that\u2019s rebellious and so you get into a rut that you don\u2019t know how to get out of. In the short time we spent together, these young people and I, I just gave them some practical advice on how to honour their parents so that the blessing will flow to them. You know something; I think it\u2019s the same in our relationship with God. It\u2019s the little things we do or we don\u2019t do. The way we think, the way we behave, the way we hold onto things and the pride and the selfishness. We can understand God\u2019s love, perhaps we even understand what Jesus did on the cross for us but unless we know how to respond to that, we may not respond properly. And sometimes we know but we just can\u2019t bring ourselves to respond. The Apostle John explained how to love God: 1 John 5:3 This is love for God, to obey His commandments and His commands aren\u2019t burdensome because everyone born of God overcomes the world.\u201d Here\u2019s what a regular pattern of Bible reading and prayer has done for me: it\u2019s changed me progressively. Just when I\u2019m going through a tough time in a relationship I read something like this, 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love but perfect love drives out all fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears isn\u2019t made perfect in love, we love because God first loved us. If anyone says \u2018I love God\u2019 yet hates his brother, he\u2019s a liar because anyone who doesn\u2019t love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he hasn\u2019t seen and he has given us this command, \u201cWhoever loves God must also love his brother. You know, when you\u2019re going through a tough relationship and you want to rip someone\u2019s head off, you pick up your Bible and you read that, you go \u2018God\u2019s speaking to me about how I should respond to His love.\u2019 Just when I\u2019m struggling with this or that, I turn the next page and He speaks to me right into that struggle, right into that need, right into that \u2018I want to go my way\u2019 and God says, \u2018but if you want to respond to my love, this is my way. It\u2019s a much narrower path, it\u2019s a much more difficult path, but these are my ways and my ways are not always your ways, my thoughts are not always your thoughts\u2019. His quiet, still voice speaks into our heart with a power and gentleness and calls us in His direction, not our own and for me it\u2019s always been that God\u2019s spoken to me in a way that my heart just wants to receive what He says. In a way that nobody else could speak and He does that through His Word, the Bible. He speaks in a way that changes me, that fills me and equips me and prepares me and encourages me. When I read God\u2019s word I\u2019m not just a better preacher, I\u2019m a better husband, I\u2019m a better father, I\u2019m a better work colleague. God teaches me how to respond. Now I have to tell you, this is still very much a work in progress and others no doubt are much further down the track than I am but that\u2019s not the point. Like a surgeon He\u2019s taking out the cancers, the cancers of sin, reconstructing, repairing, healing, encouraging. That\u2019s what happens when we go to Him and listen to what He has to say. He teaches us and shows us how to respond when we spend time in His Word \u2013 He just does! That\u2019s why there is such incredible power in the living Word of the living God. ","author_name":"A Different Perspective Official Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/christianityworks.com","html":"